I have 75 acres with a 16 and 21 acre corn/bean fields and a 3 acre hay field , I also have a 3 acre hay field and I have only seen turkeys a handfull of times the past years and was wondering what I can do to increase the population and what to do to make them feel at home

on_the_fly

11-27-2011 12:06 AM

Well they love the leaves on the beans, they love foraging both bean and corn fields after harvest, they also eat the grass and bugs out of the hay fields, so now they need water, shelter ( woods for the bad weather days),and roost which they find in the trees in the woods. With 75 acres and I'm guessing 40 farming and 35 woods. Then there realy is no reason if you have all the above that you couldn't keep a flock happy enough to stay on your ground if you don't have a predator problem like coyotes.

fordman

11-27-2011 09:08 PM

I have a hawk that lives in about the center of everything and patrols all the fields and I have dogs so could they be the problem?

on_the_fly

11-27-2011 09:42 PM

Both would be big problems for wild turkey ! I have pet turkey and dogs and they can both be in the same fence and not care about the other but if were wild birds they would never let them dogs get closer than 150 yards at best in a field, but even with my pet birds they still fear and make alarm calls to hawks and buzzards circling above and the closer they are the turkey are getting under shelter. With the hawk nesting in the middle of your property very well could be the sole reason for your problem. Dogs well that would realy more depend on how many dogs and if they stay close to the house an just follow you around the farm or if they spend most of the day with their nose to the ground running everything in sight all day.